Harmonicas



y 15, 1956 c. w. ELSASSER 2,745,307

HARMONICAS Filed Aug. 50, 1952 CASPAR W. ELSASSER vwm ATTORNEY.

HARMQNICAS Caspar W. Elsasser, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application August 30, 1952, Serial No. MVLZS Z 5 Claims. (Cl. fi l-37?) This invention relates to musical instruments of the the harmonica type.

Previously, it has been the practice in the harmonica manufacturing industry to construct harmonicas having a relatively large number of separate parts. Careful assembly of all of these parts is required, considerable skill and appreciable time being needed for this purpose with attendant high cost.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a harmonica composed of a minimum number of parts which can be readily assembled.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a harmonica which can be manufactured from easily obtainable and relatively inexpensive materials.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a harmonica which can be easily cleaned by a simple water washing operation without requiring disassembly and without injury to any of the component parts.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a harmonica which can be easily and accurately assembled by a relatively unskilled labor.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a harmonica which is so constructed that accurate assemblage of its parts is facilitated.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a harmonica having a reed plate with integral reeds thus avoiding any likelihood of the reeds coming loose from the reed plate.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a harmonica which can be easily played and has excellent tonal qualities.

Other objects and advantageous features of the present invention will be apparent from the specification and claims.

The nature and characteristic features of the invention will be more readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, in which:

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a harmonica in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional View taken approximately on the line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 3-4 of Figure l. I

It should, of course be understood that the description and drawings herein are illustrative merely, and that vari ous modifications and changes can be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated, the harmonica there shown preferably consists of three parts, two identical body portions it and 19a, and a reed plate 26, secured together by suitable adhesive layers 30.

Each of the body portions 19 and 10a has a flared back part 11. Each of the body portions it) and 160; has a plurality of spaced walls 13 extending from the front edge atent O face 14 to the rear edge face 15, successive pairs of walls 13 being connected by front walls 16 forming part of the front edge face 14 and rear walls 17 forming part of the rear edge face 15. A plurality of wind chambers 18 are thus provided opening alternately to the front edge face 14 and the rear edge face 15 and with the end most chambers 18 oppositely disposed.

The body portions 10 and 1611 are preferably cored out contiguous to the ends to provide chambers 19 to reduce the weight and quantity of material required.

The body portions 10 and 10a are preferably molded from synthetic plastic material and are identical in shape.

With the arrangement of wind chambers 18 as shown it is immaterial which body portion is considered as the top and which as the bottom, the front edge faces 14 having separated front walls 16 respectively above and below the open ends of the wind chambers 18.

The wind chambers 18 are substantially rectangular and the wind chamber walls 14 are generally in parallel arrangement with each other.

The reed plate 26 is preferably of suitable'synthetic plastic material and has a plurality of reeds 2-1 integrally molded thereon, each of the desired pitch in accordance with the desired pitch range of the instrument. The reeds 21 may be formed in any desired manner and as illustrated reed slots 22 are provided which are slightly longer and wider than the reeds 21 in order to accommodate the vibration of the reeds 21. The reeds 21 are positioned parallel to and slightly above the reed slots 22, and are integrally connected to the reed plate 29 by a base portion 23.

Reed tips 24 may be provided as integral free end portions of the reeds 21 whose dimensions may be altered to affect the periodicity of the reed as desired. One such alteration is shown as a raised portion 25 integrally connected to the reed tip 24. Both the reeds 21 and the reed slots 22 are in spaced parallel arrangement transversely of the reed plate 20 and inwardly disposed from the longitudinal edges of the reed plate 29 so that when the barmonica is assembled the reeds 21 and reed slots 22 will be positioned between the wind chambers 18 of the body portions 10 and the. It is unimportant whether the free ends of the reeds 21 face the front edge face 14 or the back edge face 15 of the body portions 10 and that since satisfactory results are obtained in either position. Nor does inversion of the reed plate affect the satisfactory results obtainable from the harmonica.

The harmonica is preferably assembled by coating the outer end faces of the walls 13, 16 and. 17 and the walls surrounding the chambers 19 of two body portions 10 with a suitable waterproof adhesive and with the end faces in facing relation a reed plate 2a is interposed therebetween and the assemblage clamped until the adhesive is set. While other modes of fastening could be employed the use of an adhesive is preferred because of ease and speed of assembly.

The components of the harmonica of the present invention can be constructed of any suitable material, but plastic materials are preferred because of their easy workability and low cost. llastic materials suitably selected also do not corrode or appreciably deteriorate under the influence of water. Condensation of water vapor and direct deposition of water droplets particularly in the interior portions of the harmonica are inevitable consequences of the playing of the instrument. A phenol formaldehyde type plastic is preferred for the body portions but any other readily available, easily workable, inexpensive material may be used. For the reed plate, a lighter and more flexible material is required, such as polystyrene plastic. Molding of the body portions of the harmonica is a simple operation which provides components in a final form with no additional operations required prior to assembly. The reed plate and reeds are molded with the desired tonal qualities and hence do not require any tuning manipulation.

The reed plate is so designed that only one need be used in one instrument. The reeds 21 are so designed and constructed as to be quite flexible and vibrant and to be played by either drawing or blowing. Since the reeds 21 respond as described, it is possible to insert the reed plate 29 between the body portions 10 and 1012 without regard to any special positioning.

Playing this harmonica requires no special techniques and is no different from playing any other harmonica. Musical notes can be produced by easy blowing into or drawing from any desired appropriate chamber or groups of chambers. In the description of the harmonica these chambers have been referred to as wind chambers, but in addition they also serve as sound chambers. Actually, the wind chambers, that are terminated at the front or playing side of the harmonica, serve to reinforce the tone produced by the wind actuated. reeds and thereby act as sound chambers.

I claim:

1. A musical instrument comprising a pair of body portions and a reed plate, each of said body portions having a longitudinal wall with transverse walls on one side face thereof integral therewith and'alternately connected at their ends by longitudinal side walls integral therewith to provide alternately forwardly and rearwardly opening chambers, the forwardly opening chambers of one body portion being respectively in superposed relation to the rearwardly opening chambers of the other body portion, said transverse and side walls of each of said body portions having terminal faces in a common plane for each body portion, said reed plate being interposed between said terminal faces of said portions and said reed plate having a plurality of spaced reeds on one side thereof each interposed between a pair of said superposed forwardly and rearwardly extending chambers.

2. A musical instrument comprising a pair of body portions and a reed plate, each of said body portions having a longitudinal wall with integral transverse walls on one side face thereof alternately connected at their ends by longitudinal side walls integral with said longitudinal wall to provide alternately forwardly and rearwardly opening chambers, the forwardly opening chambers of one body portion being respectively in superposed relation to the rearwardly opening chambers of the other body portion, said transverse and side walls of each of said body portion, said reed plate being interposed between said terminal faces of said portions, and said reed plate having a plurality of transversely extending spaced reeds on one side thereof each interposed between a pair of said superposed forwardly and rearwardly extending chambers, and means for holding said body portions and said reed plate in assembled relation.

3. A musical instrument comprising a pair of like body portions and a reed plate, each of said body portions having a longitudinal wall with transverse walls on one side face thereof alternately connected at their ends by longitudinal side walls integral therewith to provide alternately forwardly and rearwardly opening chambers, the forward- 1y opening chambers of one body portion being respectively in superposed relation to the rearwardly opening chambers of the other body portion, said transverse and side walls of each of said body portions having terminal faces in a common plane for each body portion, said reed plate being interposed between said terminal faces of said portions, said reed plate having a plurality of transversely extending reeds integral therewith and disposed on one side thereof and each interposed between a pair of said superposed forwardly and rearwardly extending chambers, and means for holding said body portions and said reed plate in assembled relation.

4. A musical instrument comprising a pair of like body portions and a reed plate, each of said body portions having a longitudinal wall with transverse walls integral therewith on one side face thereof alternately connected at their ends by longitudinal side walls integral with said longitudinal wall to provide alternately forwardly and rearwardly opening chambers, the forwardly opening chambers of one body portion being respectively in superposed relation to the rearwardly opening chambers of the other body portion, said transverse and side walls of each of said body portions having terminal faces in a common plane for each body portion, said reed plate being interposed between said terminal faces of said portions, said reed plate having a plurality of transversely extending reeds on one side thereof each interposed between a pair of said superposed forwardly and rearwardly extending chambers, said body portions and said reed plate being secured together by interposed adhesive layers engaging said terminal faces and said reed plate.

5. A musical instrument comprising a pair of like body portions and a reed plate, each of said body portions having a longitudinal wall with integral transverse walls on one side face thereof alternately connected at their ends by longitudinal side Walls integral with said longitudinal wall to provide alternately forwardly and rearwardly opening chambers, the forwardly opening chambers of one body portion being respectively in superposed relation to the rearwardly opening chambers of the other body portion, said transverse and side walls of each of said body portions having terminal faces in a common plane for each body portion, said reed plate being interposed between said terminal faces of said portions, said reed plate having a plurality of transversely extending reeds integral therewith and each interposed between a pair of said superposed forwardly and rearwardly extending chambers, and said body portions and said reed plate being secured together by interposed adhesive layers engaging said terminal faces and said reed plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,340,333 Magnus Feb. 1, 1944 2,407,312 Magnus Sept. 10, 1946 2,572,818 Rosenheim Oct. 23, 1951 

